Waking up
by musicallie
Summary: After the war, the world takes on new meaning for Sledge and Snafu.   Eugene / Snafu   rating subject to change, and none of the characters are mine. R&R please, I need to know if i should continue :
1. Chapter 1

Title:Night  
>Summary: A drabble written for The Pacific. SledgeSnafu if you grab yourself a magnifying glass and Mr. Holmes.

Night had never been something to fear in Eugene's book. It was simply when the sun would fade and the stars would blossom high above the Alabama fields. Night meant fireflies and the cooling of a ferociously heated day. It would lead him to crisp sheets and rest.

Sledge had different eyes when it came to night. As the sky dimmed he could feel his stomach clench and his eyes dart to the faces around him. He would attempt to memorize every detail of the world around him, willing it to all remain the same even as he lost it to the shadows. He never wanted the dark to come, because one of two things happened at night, either you were left to the mercy of the rotted dreams and awoke completely alone and empty with only your terror before you. There was then the second option, where you never join the men around you again. You simply disappeared into the ground, never to be seen again except in the honorable words that lie to your weeping family.

Sledge could already read his own letter. It would talk about how he had fallen valiantly, in a vital mission that would be the pivotal point in all the ways the war needed. It would paint such a grand picture of him sprinting forward to meet the enemy and leaving many felled around him. And while his parent would weep they would also know of his bravery and honor, they would raise their eyes to the heaven and know that he was amongst the stars as so many valiant men.

Yet when honesty came into the matter, things would always fade to a dull grey and lose all sheen that they may have once possessed. Because, he knew that this letter would never be truth, and that the ones that were sent were simply kind fabrications made by a well groomed woman before a typewriter with no idea who this lost soul had been. Sledge knew how these corpses that lay scattered on the ground really came to be. He knew that they had spent their last minutes cowering in some battle field screaming and crying, leaving the world just as they had come into it. And they also had died like every other boy, nothing unique or heroic, just the uniform death that they each were issued along with boots and dog tags.

He had seen this same death over and over, and as time moved on he lost his fear and grew into his resentment. He was angry at the fact that he was still standing when so many others were allowed to leave this. All Sledge was beginning to be able to feel was his fury that they were able to die as living men, while he had to live as a dead man. He had to soldier on while they came to rest. They could sleep while he still had to last through the nights.

Yet, as he stared into the eyes of a nameless boy, as this child lay there wordless, dressed up like some government doll, he could feel that ever constant tug at the back of his mind. The one that reminded him that he never wanted to end up that alone. It told him that while the nights were bad, he would always awake and only for a moment be abandoned. Then there would be a calloused hand feeling it's way over to him, and wide grey eyes scanning his face while a thick southern drawl spoke, reminding Gene that Snafu was right there.

And maybe, they could get through one more night.


	2. Chapter 2: Saving you

Title: Waking up (cuz that's ORIGINAL)  
>Pairing: Kinda sorta SnafuSledge  
>Rating: PG<br>Disclaimer: I don't own ANYTHING but the words. And oh jeez, I mean no disrespect to the real men. I can't stress that enough.  
>Warnings: Maybe for the ending of the Pacific but not that much really. Oh and I whipped this up real fast and I'm crazy rusty, so I really do apologize for any and all mistakes in grammar, spelling, or anything else. I'm also really sorry if it's out of character and for the uber short length.<br>Summery: Just Snafu's thoughts on the train and a change at the end.  
>Oh and I dunno if I should continue this or not. Any thoughts?<p>

WakingUp

Ever since Burgin had left, Snafu hadn't been able to meet Gene's eyes. He knew that there were questions in them, ones that Merriell couldn't answer because he wouldn't do that to Eugene. He refused to say those words, to ask, no beg, the other to not leave him, to come stay a spell in New Orleans or to allow him to join him in Mobile. Every fiber of his being was screaming at him to look up, to simply match the man before him in the eyes, to just have at least that much courage, but no, he wouldn't do that because Gene knew just how to read him and would know everything Snafu was thinking. He also knew, was absolutely positive, that if Eugene even thought that he wanted him to stay in the least bit, he would gladly do so, and Snafu wouldn't let that happen.

No, Eugene wasn't his to take. Gene was far from innocent, the damned war had made sure to tear that from him as soon as possible but he was still the quiet Alabama boy that had shown up in his bunk so many nights ago. He still held a bible close to his breast, and his hands were still just as gentle. He could smile earnestly up at all of them and laugh with such soul that had left every other man of war. Eugene was still so alive and so absolutely pure. He could move on from all this, he was strong enough and courageous enough, which only brought to light just how broken Merriell was.

As Snafu watched the other sleep, he knew that he would be part of Eugene's nightmares. All he could ever be to this man, was a reminder . He could never remain by the others side, despite how Snafu knew that he needed Gene. He was going disappear to save Eugene, the man who had saved Merriel from the rain and screams when they had hidden away in distant lands. But now they were in New Orleans, and it was time for Snafu to return the favor. It was time to remain silent and fade into the many nameless faces be they smeared with blood or simply indifferent passengers.

He won't look back, he knows if he does, he won't be able to escape. Instead, Snafu forces himself onward with the dead march that the military had instilled in his bones. When, he reaches the door and glances out onto the platform, he remembers it all. He see's the smoke billowing, hears piercing shrieks, smells the putrid decay, feels the gritty filth, tastes the bile in his throat. The war may be gone, but all this, has remained as constant as his heart beat. When he steps from the train, he'll lose his only chance to escape. Still, that's not much to sacrifice to give Eugene a chance, so Snafu takes the final step off the train.

Yet his foot doesn't hit the ground and instead he's pulled back by a firm hand on his wrist. And when he meets dark brown eyes, he doesn't know what to do but say, "Hello Sledgehamma.


	3. Chapter 3: Where to?

**title**: Waking up (part 2)  
><strong>Pairing<strong>: Kinda sorta Snafu/Sledge  
><strong>Rating<strong>: PG  
><strong>Disclaimer<strong>: I don't own ANYTHING but the words. And oh jeez, I mean no disrespect to the real men. I can't stress that enough.  
><strong>Warnings<strong>: Maybe for the ending of the Pacific but not that much really. Oh and I whipped this up real fast and I'm crazy rusty, so I really do apologize for any and all mistakes in grammar, spelling, or anything else. I'm also really sorry if it's out of character and for the uber short length.  
><strong>Summery<strong>: Eugene waking up on the train. It's a second part but I guess it could stand alone.

And I'm still kinda unsure as to if to continue. Any opinions.

Youth is a simple thing. It's made of dreams and a blissful ignorance. When need and want are the same, and the world is good. Kindness is seen in nature and people are such. Love is given and received from all life. The earth is still left sprawling before you, vast and unexplored. A wonder, that in your eyes, can give all that you shall ever aspire to. It's a time when Happiness is but a breath away.

This is all set as an age. As time passes, so does youth. We grow jaded and cynical and before the hands of time we lose what joy we once observed. Well, that is what conventional thought dictates.

As Sledge watches the other passengers, he sees their truth of the matter. This innocence has never left them. It has simply been hidden away like a shameful blemish. It's still there, though. These people still dream and they can taste the hopes of tomorrow. There's a light in them, in the way they laugh, move, breath. They will forever be young, even as the roses are laid upon their grave.

Sledge knows he isn't one of them. His youth is gone. Lost to a bullet on the fields of Peleliu. He is left empty, without the whimsical drive all the others possess. He is a half of a man, being split by his death in the past and his life in the future.

He is terrified of it all.

To be so alone. To be so damaged. To be so weak. To be so lost. To be so damned.

Eugene Sledge learned this in one moment. When he awoke to find himself alone, he felt fear for the first time. An honest to God terror that ran in his blood, past the burning bullets and decay. With a friend he had faced those atrocities. Grey eyes and a southern drawl had been his weapon when the nightmares came.

His hands fumbled as they had when they had first felt the cool metal of the mortars. And as he hoisted his canvas bag onto his back he knew there wasn't anything to think about. The unknown streets of New Orleans called to Gene just as the roads Mobile once had for Eugene.

So he reaches out and grabs a hold of Snafu's wrist, searching grey eyes, attempting to convey what he can't turn to words. Yet all is said in several short words.

"Hello Sledgehamma."

"Hello Snafu. Where we headed?" 


	4. Chapter 4: In New Orleans

**Title**: In New Orleans

**Pairing**: Snafu/Eugene (it's gettin' there)

**Raiting**: PG

**Disclaimer**: I don't own ANYTHING but the words. And oh jeez, I mean no disrespect to the real men. I can't stress that enough.  
><strong>Warnings<strong>: Maybe for the ending of the Pacific but not that much really. Oh and I whipped this up real fast and I'm crazy rusty, so I really do apologize for any and all mistakes in grammar, spelling, or anything else. I'm also really sorry if it's out of character and for the uber short length. And to anyone who wanted me to continue I'm so sorry it took such a ridiculously long time to come up with such a tiny pitiful piece.

**Summary**: What truly remains once the war is over.

"Thah streets ah Nah'lans aint a place fo' a pretty Alabama boy like yo'self. So I suggest ya hurry along to thah train Sledgehamma." The taunt spilled forward, tasting of acrid vomit. It was desperate, frantic, despairing. It was the final struggle of a man who was far too tired of doing just such. It had taken all Merriell had to not awaken Eugene, to not say goodbye, to not beg him to come, to not take from the person Gene could become, when the all the memories of war and Snafu, faded into sleepless nights.

Yet the hold on his arm only tightened, as dark eyes searched for something that Snafu could not name. He didn't know what to do for this person, for this was not Sledge but Gene, and what one needed was so completely foreign from that of the other, but forever touching at the seems of distant seas. That was what allowed Eugene to endure, and what left Merriell trapped in the debris of the war. Merriel was Snafu, while Sledge was only a part of Eugene, a fragment of a whole, a remnant that could one day be forgotten. Merriell could no more leave Snafu then his own marred flesh.

There was a long pause of consuming silence and entire calamity and then Eugene let go, "This is as good of a stop as any." It was all he said, and he disembarked and waited next to Snafu.

Grey eyes focused on the train, and remained thus as the dim lights faded as the screeching engine careened into the murk of the platform. He tore his vision away and hesitantly peered to his side. Eugene was still there. And as they locked eyes a realization came into a sharp instantaneous clarity, this was Okinawa or Peleliu, this was a train station in New Orleans. There were no screams, no blood and dirt, no stench, no iron in the air, yet in New Orleans Eugene remained.


End file.
